Survey Finds Optimism A Growth Industry In City

Maybe the two years of sprucing up for next week's Democratic National Convention have had an impact on Chicago's psyche. Or maybe it's the city's stable economy--or the Bulls and their winning ways.

Maybe things really are getting better on the streets and in the neighborhoods of the city.

Whatever the reason, Chicagoans are growing increasingly bullish about their city, according to a report to be made public Tuesday by a non-profit research organization.

"I'm glad to be in Chicago," said 20-year-old Jennie Wheeler as she pushed her daughter, Caitlyn, in a stroller on a sun-washed day in Portage Park. Wheeler, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood who is living with her parents, wants to buy a home soon in the community of well-kept bungalows.

A couple of miles to the east in the Avondale area, Jaroslav "Jerry" Zaplitny, a 67-year-old retired city pharmacist, was getting ready to climb a ladder to the roof of his two-story, four-unit apartment building to fix some loose tar paper.

"This neighborhood is changing," he said, a trace of accent still lingering in his voice a half-century after leaving his native Ukraine. "But the people who are coming in, most of them, are improving the buildings and taking care of their properties-- which is a plus."

Like Zaplitny, many Chicagoans are looking at the bright side of urban life rather than dwelling on the negatives, the study by the Metro Chicago Information Center determined.

It's a finding that flies in the face of expectations. For a half-century, Chicago and most other major American cities have been shaken by economic, social and demographic shifts.

Between 1950 and 1990, for example, the number of Chicagoans fell by more than 800,000. Today, the suburbs account for nearly two-thirds of the metropolitan region's people, most of its jobs and the bulk of its wealth.

Yet, even as doomsayers have predicted the death of U.S. cities, many Chicagoans have continued to buy homes, raise families and live lives of quiet satisfaction.

"I like Chicago," said 74-year-old Florence Nowak, "because there's a lot of beautiful buildings. And people are friendlier now."

Nowak was on her way home from the Aldi supermarket in her Southwest Side neighborhood of Brighton Park. Helping her push her grocery-filled shopping cart along Albany Avenue were two neighborhood girls--Lupita, 5, and Yesya, 7--who have become Nowak's friends.

Attitudes about the city and urban life "are a balancing of good points and bad points," noted Garth Taylor, the center's executive director and principal author of the study. "The balance is getting better."

Nailing down the reasons for the more optimistic view of the city is impossible, given the multitude of factors that have an effect on perceptions--ranging from flowers planted along a boulevard parkway to the noise of rowdy neighbors to the construction of a mini-mall.

"It's almost uncountable, the number of variables that you could integrate into your opinion about your neighborhood," said Timothy P. Johnson, a sociologist and the interim director of the University of Illinois-Chicago Survey Research Laboratory.

Most attitudes and perceptions are open to change, especially as new information becomes available, Johnson said. "It's truly an evolutionary process for most people."

The process is infinitely complex when it comes to something as central to the lives of people as their neighborhood and their city--something they're immersed in rather than something, such as a presidential candidate, outside their daily existence.

"If you see less crime or if you see more crime or if you see your street being paved, your attitudes are going to change," Johnson said. "Your attitude about the city is often what's happened on the way to the `L' stop."

Or what condition your pocketbook is in.

Chicago's economy has been healthy in recent years, and Taylor said that people who aren't getting squeezed economically are more likely to feel good about where they live.

Taylor's report analyzed changes in the attitudes of city residents as reflected in a series of annual polls conducted by the center since 1991.

Chicagoans, the study determined, are thinking more about fixing up their homes and less about moving. They feel safer in public places and have noticed improvements in such public services as the Chicago Transit Authority and the city's park system.

They're also more willing to recommend their communities to other families as good places to live.

That's good news for city leaders and civic groups fighting to keep Chicago stable and prosperous at a time when the suburbs are ascendant.

"People in the city have more faith in their neighborhoods," said John Satalic, Mayor Richard Daley's chief of staff. "People's confidence in the future of their neighborhoods has improved."